09/05/2026
🚨 WARNING…LONG POST! 🚨
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Recently, Nebraska dentists who are participating Blue Cross Blue Shield providers were BLINDSIDED with the insurance company’s decision to SIGNIFICANTLY decrease their provider reimbursement amounts to in-network providers on many commonly performed dental procedures. In an economy where EVERY single facet of running a dental practice (supplies, payroll costs, licensing and malpractice fees, building costs, etc) go 🆙 🆙 🆙 every year, a decrease of this reimbursement on an ALREADY discounted rate given to insurance companies can be detrimental to a dental practice.
What does this mean to patients with BCBS dental insurance? If you go to a BCBS provider, your dental bill for services will not change, as the office will be asked to “absorb” the decrease in reimbursement. BUT…as providers navigate this significant change to the financial well-being of the practice, some dentists may choose to limit the number of BCBS patients they see or terminate their in-network status with BCBS altogether in the future. And this WILL affect BCBS dental insurance holders. HOWEVER, this is not something Hebron Dental Care plans on doing at this time 🙌🙌
What does this mean for other patients who do not have BCBS insurance? That remains to be seen.
Is the dental office supposed to start using inferior “cheaper” dental materials and labs to make up for this large decrease in revenue? (I hear dental labs in China make decent enough dental crowns at a fraction of the cost😉). This won’t be happening in my office, where I refuse to compromise patient care to save a buck (but could be a real possibility in other dental practices).
Do staff members not receive the adequate pay and benefits increase yearly they deserve? Nope, not in my office either.
Do overall fees for services to all patients have to increase? Unfortunately, this is the most likely scenario that dental offices will have to consider….and that decision affects everyone.
Final thoughts…I would love to know if this decrease in dentist reimbursements translate to lower premiums charged by BCBS to their customers 🤔🤔 (I’m looking at 👀 all you employers who offer BCBS insurance to your employees 👀…ie Nebraska Public Schools). I would hope so! In the meantime, while in-network dental offices navigate this significant change, employers need to be cognizant of the fact that their employees may no longer benefit as much in the future with their job-provided BCBS insurance if dentists decide not to participate in BCBS’s network anymore.
This is not an issue of dental offices being greedy, but simply trying to keep up with the rising costs of providing quality dental care.
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And this concludes my Labor Day Weekend rant 😆 Have a blessed holiday!